Blue Jays fever in full swing for First Nations fans

First Nations fans across Canada are following the Toronto Blue Jays’ World Series run against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

These Jays fans, showing their excitement and support in different ways, are getting noticed.

Carla Robinson, who is Haisla and Heiltsuk and lives in Six Nations of the Grand River in Ontario, was at Game 1 of the World Series in Toronto with her husband and appeared on the official broadcast with a small, hand-lettered sign.

“I kind of felt like my sign was a little like the Jays, you know, underrated,” Robinson said.

“Facebook back in Bella Bella and Kitamaat blew up when they saw me on TV. It just helped people feel so much a part of it …. Even when I'm there, I look for other Native people and I give them a nod.”

Her father was a Jays super-fan and she likes how the Blue Jays are inspirational in the way they support each other, like her own community, she said. 

“It's also kind of like a Canadian thing these days with everything that's going on in the world. We're all just trying to keep batting and keep going,” she said.

Brad Lewis, a Seneca pastry chef, said the first shift at his bakery in Port Dover, Ont., starts at 3:30 a.m. but he stayed up until 3 a.m. Tuesday morning watching Game 3, which went 18 innings.

Although he did start work later that morning, he said as a lifelong Jays fan he wasn't going to miss it. 

He said he remembers his parents taking him and his brother to Exhibition Stadium to watch the Jays when he was just three or four, and he remembers when they won the World Series back to back in 1992 and 1993.

“This is 32 years in the making for the next generation. So a lot of my employees weren't even alive,” Lewis said. 

They’ve been cheering on the Blue Jays with a Jays-themed menu, including blueberry macarons available this week.

Lewis said at the start of the season he thought the Jays would be "another last place team."

“There wasn't a lot of new faces like free agents or trades to start the year, so I was a little concerned," he said.